After ten years of work, last year the work of eradicating the African giant snail in Florida was considered complete. The effort in Miami-Dade County cost $ 23 million, about a quarter of a billion dollars, and resulted in 170,000 collected snails.
But now the slimy intruder seems to be back on a larger scale. The discovery was recently made in Pasco County, where 1,000 snails have already been collected.
– We will eradicate these snails. We have done it before and we will do it again, says Nikki Fried, head of the Florida Department of Agriculture.
The African giant land snail, which can grow up to 20 centimeters, is one of the world’s most destructive pests. It is not difficult to understand why.
The snails can eat 500 different kinds of plants, but they also like plaster and plaster in buildings that contain lime for their large shells. They reproduce quickly and produce about 1,200 eggs a year, making it difficult to get rid of them. As the snail is bisexual, it can also fertilize itself.
The African giant snail is also not harmless to humans. It carries the parasite lungworm, which can cause meningitis, which is very rare.